monikriteerisiä

Monikriteerisiä is a Finnish adjective describing something that involves or is evaluated according to multiple criteria. The form is used when referring to processes, analyses, or decisions that consider several factors at once, rather than focusing on a single measure. The word is commonly seen in contexts such as monikriteerinen päätöksenteko or monikriteerisiä arviointeja.

In decision science and related fields, monikriteerisiä approaches are central to multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). MCDA studies how to evaluate and compare alternatives when each option is described by several criteria that may have different units and importance. Typically, decision makers assign weights to criteria, normalize data, and compute scores to rank options. The goal is to reflect trade-offs between objectives such as cost, quality, risk, and sustainability.

Common methods used in MCDA include weighted sum models, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), TOPSIS, ELECTRE, and PROMETHEE. Each method provides a different way to aggregate criterion information and to handle issues such as conflicting objectives, missing data, or uncertainty. Challenges in monikriteerisiä analyses include selecting relevant criteria, determining appropriate weights, ensuring criterion independence, and addressing subjectivity in judgments.

The term is widely used across disciplines, including economics, environmental science, engineering, and public policy, wherever decisions must balance several factors. It highlights the shift from single-criterion evaluation to more holistic assessments.